Gas-engine



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H, A. WEEKS & G. W. LEWIS.

GAS ENGINE.

No. 511,478. Patented Dec. 26,1893.

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No.j511,478; Patented Dec. -2'6.,"-1893.

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HENRY A. WEEKS AND GEORGE W. LEWIS, on CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

GAS-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 511,478, dated December 26, 1893.

Application filed March 10,1892:

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be itknown that we, HENRY A. YVEEKsl and GEORGE W. LEWIS, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Gas-. Engines; and we do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,'and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification. p

This invention relates primarily to the delivery or feed of gas to the piston chamber in gas engines, and it consists, in this respect, in the .provision of a reservoir or relativelylarge chamber in which the gas, after being expanded by explosion or ignition, is accumulated under high pressure and from which itis delivered into the piston chamber through a valved passage.

The invention also relates to automatic means for limiting the pressure in this reservoir, and to other features of construction having reference to the primary object and more distinctive feature of the invention first above mentioned.

In the accompanying drawings the engine proper is shown as being of the rotary order and of the particular construction set forth by Henry A. Weeks, one of the present patentees, in his application, Serial No.424,378, filed simultaneously herewith, and the apparatus is otherwise shown as adapted for the use of the vapor of gasoline or other liquid hydrocarbon with air, but the invention is applicable to the use of ordinary coal gas or other gas and air and of other forms of en gine proper.

chamber; B a piston secured to said shaft Serial No. 424,380. (No model.)

within the chamber A; Ga hollow, rotary, cylindric sheath for the piston eccentric to and embracing the shaft B and shown as touching the inner periphery of the chamber A at a line between the ports a a, and D designates a ported, oscillatory valve arranged in the induction passage 0. through which the impelling fluid is admitted to the piston chamber. Further details of the construction of this rotary engine and its mode of operation are fully set forth in the above mentioned application of Weeks.

Next pointing out in a general way the rem'ainipg elements of the entire apparatus, E designates a strong reservoir communicating with the piston chamber of the engine proper through' the passage a; F vdesignates'a gasoline supply tank; G designates a vaporizer, which, as shown, is of the character set forth by George W. Lewis, one of the present patentees, in his pending application for patent,

Serial No. 384,876, filed March 13, 1891, said vaporizer receiving gasoline from the tank F through a pump H, and taking air through a pipe'I; J designates a pump taking carbureted air from the vaporizer G through a pipe G and delivering it to the reservoirE through the pipe J; K designates an ignition device in the passage leading from the pump J to the reservoir, and L designates the entire mechanism applied to the reservoir E and gas-and-air pipe (3% for restricting the supply to said reservoir and thus preventing excessivepressure therein. M designates the mechanism for controlling the induction valve D with reference to the speed of the engine.

Describing the pressure regulating mechanism, L designates a fixed standard to which is pivoted, between its ends, a lever L At one of its extremities said lever is connected with a plunger or piston L fitted to slide in a tube 1 which is open below the plunger. to the interior of the reservoir, so that the end of said plunger is subject to reservoir pressure. At its opposite extremity the lever L is similarly connected with an automatically opening valve in the pipe G leading from the vaporizer to the pump, the arrangement being such that when the reservoir pressure forces the plunger L upward or outward the valve in the gas or vapor pipe is closed. The vapor or gas supply being thus cut off, fur- Ioo ther ignition and consequently further compression in the reservoir, are of course prevented. lVhen, by use of gas from the reservoir, the reservoir pressure has been lowered below a required limit, the valve in the vapor pipe opens automatically, allowing vapor and air to pass to and from the pump and further ignition and a resulting reinforcement of the reservoir pressure take place.

The illustrated construction of the valve referred to comprises a plunger L fitted to slide in an ofiset section 9 of the vapor-andair pipe G, so that, when lowered or advanced, said valve closes the passage for vapor and, when raised or retracted, opens said passage. A spring Z surrounding the plunger or valve rod between the open end of the offset pipe g and the adjustable collar Z on said rod, is the means shown for automatically opening the valve, though other suitable means may be employed for this purpose.

As an additional safeguard the reservoir is provided with a safety valve L which will be set to open at a pressure a little higher than thatat which the vapor valve is closed, so that,if the valve mechanism should for any reason fail to operate, the reservoir will have relief.

L is a pressure gage by which the degree of pressure on the reservoir is indicated.

The pump J is single acting, and, as here illustrated, is operated from a crank on the journal of the piston sheath of the engine. In said engine it willbe observed that the piston protrudes from the sheath increasingly during the first half revolution and decreasingly during the last half revolution, and

that the power exerted upon the piston varies accordingly. The crank Operating the pump is adjusted in position to bring the pump piston to the end of its active stroke when the engine piston is at its greatest protrusion from its sheath so that said pump may act the more advantageously against the pressure on the reservoir.

The ignition device may be of any preferred character or construction. That shown is of the kind in which a Bunsen burner is employed to heat a tube to incandescence. The pipe J leading from the pump J to the reservoir E and containing the ignition device is provided with a check valve J 2 between said device and the pump, opening from the pump. The pump induction pipe, G is also provided with a check valve Giwhich opens toward the pump.

The valve-controlling mechanism M comprises, a centrifugal shaft governor in which M M are weights attached to pivoted arms M is a spring attached to the adjacent pulley and also to a sleeve M which is mounted rotatably upon the shaft B, said shaft being peripherally connected with the weights M ortheir arms by chains m m in such man ner, as shown, that the spring M opposes the centrifugal force of said weights and tends to essential.

to the reservoir E ignites.

rotate the sleeve in one direction while the weights, by outward movement, rotate it in the opposite direction. Upon the sleeve M is formed an eccentric M the position of which of course shifts with the sleeve according to the speed of the engine. Adjacent to the sleeve M isa second eccentric M fixed to the shaft B. From the straps of these eccentrics proceed rods m m the lower ends of which are pivoted to a transverse link M and to the middle of this link is pivoted the end of a crank d on the axial shaft or prolongation of the valve D. The arrangement of the parts is manifestly such that in the higher speeds of the engine the valve D will be opened to a less extent or not at all, while at lower speeds said valve will be. more widely opened and the supply of gasfrom the pressure reservoir E varied accordingly.

In the application of the rotary engine de-. scribed tothe use of heated gas it is proposed to circulate a cooling and lubricating liquid through the piston sheath. This, is done by the provision of two pipes N N one of which delivers into and the other of which takes from the interior of said sheath thronghthe head of the piston chamber. with which the nnheaded end of said sheath connects, as shown in Fig. 3. These pipespreferahly enter the sheath at difierent elevations. with respect to its axisto facilitate circulation bydifference in temperature, though this is, not The relative movements of the piston and its sheath obviously produce a pumping action upon the contentsof the sheath and the familiar provision of oppositely opening check valves in the pipesN N will result in a constant change in the con tentsofthe sheath when the'apparatus is. in

operation. The pipes N and N may heconnected with any suitable receptacle or re ceptacles.

To put the apparatus, into, operation the ignition device is brought to an operative condition (according to its cha fecter), and

several revolutions are given the engine by hand until the mixture of gas and air passing This will practically involve the ignition of the entire (30,1); tents of the reservoir in which, therefore,the pressure will at once be raised to a fi figree sufficient to continue the operation of the englue.

The governor mechanism M determines the pp Of p e a h g pressur a from the reservoir to the piston chamber and the pressure regulating mechanism L controls the supply to the reservoir, all in accordance with the adjustments given. these parts respectively.

We claim as our invention- 1. A gas-engine, comprising a revoluble piston-shaft carrying aeentrifugal governor, an oil-supply tank, an oil-pump acuated directly by the piston-shaft and communicating with the oil-tank, an exploded-gas reservoir communicating directly with the engine-cyl- 511,478 g r a to be controlled thereby, substantially as set forth.

2. A gas-engine comprising a revoluble piston-shaft carrying a centrifugal governor,

an oil-supply tank, an oil-pump communicating with said tank and actuated directly by the piston-shaft, an exploded-gas reservoir communicating directly with the engine cylinder, an oscillatory valve located in the passage between the reservoir and the cylinder and operatively connected to the governor upon the piston-shaft so as to be controlled thereby, a carbureted air-pump also actuated directly by the piston-shaft and communicating directly with the reservoir, a vaporizer operatively interposed between the oil-pump and the air-pump, an ignitor operatively interposed between the air-pump and the gasreser-voir,a cut-oft valve operatively interposed between the vaporizer and the ignitor and closed by internal pressure of the gasreservoir, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing .as our joint invention we aflix our signatures witnesses. HENRY A. WEEKS. GEORGE W; LEWIS.

in presence of two Witnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, O. CLARENCE PooLE. 

